The piston and the piston rings seated in piston ring grooves of the piston of an internal combustion engine, as a car engine, are a wear-prone system, which essentially affects the useful lifetime of the entire engine. Similar problems exist also with other high-duty pistons, e.g. pistons of piston compressors, injection pumps and similar apparatus.
German Offenlegungsschrift 24 15 501 discloses already a method for treating the surface of workpieces or intermediate products made of aluminum or aluminum alloys, wherein a layer is applied to the surface of the workpiece, said layer comprising at least one of the metals vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt or nickel, and the layer is fused with the basic material of the workpiece by means of an electron beam. Then, the workpiece may be finished to the final form by a machining process.
German Offenlegungsschrift 21 34 662 discloses a method of improving the mechanical strength of workpieces subject to heat-stresses, as valves of internal combustion engines, wherein a surface layer of an area, in which cracks are likely to occur, is fused to a certain depth by means of an electron beam treatment. The method is disclosed with reference to austenitic alloys comprising chromium, manganese and nickel.
German Offenlegungsschrift 24 56 856 discloses a method of producing a coating on a surface on an article, wherein a surface layer of the article is fused with addition of an additional material, and resolidified. This method is used for iron materials including all types of cast iron and steel types.
The problems of improving the wear-resistance of a piston ring groove in a piston made of an aluminum alloy is not dealt with in the above discussed prior art.